Season 11, Episode 8
- A storm besieges Alexandria as Maggie herself besieges Meridian.
Daryl and Leah return to Meridian where Pope and the others are observing a nearby horde of walkers milling about in circles. Though Daryl recognizes the Whisperer herding tactic, when asked, he tells Pope he has seen this behavior in walkers down south. Carver wants to go in and attack the horde, but Daryl volunteers to lead it away to be safer. Though Carver protests, Pope agrees with Daryl's safer plan... but assigns the Reaper Wells to lead the horde away. Wells proves very good at it and leads the horde a small distance away, but is surprised when another group of walkers cuts him off. He begins fighting the horde as he radios back for help, and is shocked when a walker - the masked Negan - swings back at him. The masked Maggie joins in as well, and soon Wells is helpless and surrounded and devoured by the horde. Negan grabs his radio to help the group keep tabs on the Reapers' chatter.
At Meridian, Leah fails to raise Wells again, and Pope says he's been killed by Maggie; knowing a trained walker-killer like him was unlikely to fall to a normal horde, he sent Wells out as bait to confirm Maggie is behind the horde. Leah is disgusted with Pope sending Wells to his death, but Pope gaslights her by saying it was a hard decision for him to sacrifice Wells. Pope deduces that Maggie has somehow developed the ability to command the dead, and demands Daryl give him some more useful intel on her. When Daryl is only able to give some weak information, Pope tells him of how he once had a dog that never trusted him and eventually bit him when he let his guard down - and Pope killed the dog for it.
At Alexandria, a violent storm rocks the community. The survivors huddle together in their houses until the wall is blown down by the storm, letting walkers inside. Aaron leads several survivors outside to try to repair it and also put out a fire in the windmill caused by lightning. The wounded Virgil talks to Judith, telling her that Michonne would be proud of her, before walkers attack the house. Everyone scrambles for safety; Rosita runs outside and slays several walkers to buy them some time, but eventually they're forced to retreat upstairs. Judith and Gracie are separated from the others as the walkers flood in and flee into the rapidly flooding basement, where walkers are soon chasing after them.
As night falls, Negan and Elijah lead the herd to Meridian's gates, but are soon met by a series of mines that begin blowing chunks out of the herd. A piece of shrapnel hits Elijah, who is only narrowly steadied by Negan as they head for safety. Daryl watches from the gates of Meridian until Maggie and Gabriel break off, and follows them to another side of the walls. When he is met by Powell, he pretends to offer him a smoke, but when Powell goes to get a cigarette that Daryl drops, he stabs him in the neck and tosses his body over the wall. Daryl directs Maggie and Gabriel to sneak in via the dumpster, and the pair separate as Gabriel heads for a room at the top of nearby building to grab a stashed away sniper rifle.
Maggie goes to a garage and hotwires a car. The Reaper Deaver catches her too late, and she drives the car into the gates of Meridian to let the herd in, tucking and rolling before impact. Gabriel then shoots Deaver with his rifle to save Maggie.
Pope and the Reaper Ancheta unveil a large hwacha, which Leah says they will use to fire upon the horde. When they're alone, Daryl goes to Leah and suggests they run away together, as he knows she's uncomfortable with Pope's actions. Leah is unsure and vulnerable, and finally, Daryl confesses that the horde is being directed by his family who are here for Meridian's food supply. Leah is outraged that Daryl lied to her, but Daryl points out they'd both do anything for their families and he doesn't want his to starve. When Pope returns, Leah keeps his secret for the time being.
Pope orders the hwacha be fired upon the battle unfolding at the gates. Leah protests since the Reapers down there fighting the walkers will die too, but Pope doesn't care, boasting how they will die as God has ordained if it means he kills his enemy. Daryl has enough, and draws his weapons to attack. Pope notices and is delighted that Daryl's true nature is finally unmasked... but is then stabbed violently by Leah, as punishment for betraying their family. Ancheta is shocked to see Leah kill Pope, and moves to retaliate only to be killed by Daryl.
Leah takes stock of what has happened, and Daryl once again implores her to stop everything. Leah refuses, however, declaring she will do anything for her family, and she alerts Carver and the others that Daryl killed Pope. She gives him a head start to get running as a final courtesy to her ex-lover, as the other Reapers arrive and find Pope's body, unaware of her actions.
Daryl joins Maggie, Negan, and Elijah on the ground as they battle the Reapers and walkers alike. Suddenly, the Reapers retreat, and Maggie looks up to see Leah with the armed hwacha, glaring at them scathingly as it opens fire on them with a hail of fireworks.
- A God Am I: Pope makes it clear he views himself as God’s equal.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Maggie’s group attacks Meridian.
- Asshole Victim: Wells, Powell, Ancheta, and Deaver are all slain for their part in hunting the group. Pope is later killed by Leah when he decides to slaughter his own men to defeat the horde invading Meridian.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Negan, Elijah, Maggie, and Daryl fight against Reaper and walker alike at the end of the episode.
- Bad Boss: Pope keeps his streak well and alive by callously disregarding Wells’s death and later immediately asking why he bothers keeping Daryl around when he claims to not have any intel on Maggie then during the near end of the episode he has Ancheta fire the machine to kill all the walkers despite some of the reapers still down there fighting them.
- Blatant Lies: Daryl claims he’s never seen Whisperer tactics before and still insists he’s unfamiliar with Maggie.
- Boom, Headshot!: Happens to Deaver thanks to Gabriel.
- Blood Knight: Carver and Wells show their bloodlust when the former ridicules Daryl for a less risky plan to get rid of the horde, and when the latter treats everything like a big game despite leading a horde alone.
- The Bus Came Back: Dianne makes her first reappearance since Season 10’s “A Certain Doom”. Nabila also makes her first reappearance since “Home Sweet Home”, and Barbara returns for the first time since the Season 10 finale “Here’s Negan”.
- Character Death:
- Wells is killed when he is ambushed by the group disguising themselves among the horde, and then is left open long enough to get eaten.
- Powell is stabbed in the neck by Daryl to protect Maggie and Gabriel.
- Leah kills Pope for being willing to slaughter their own and since Ancheta was there to see the above Daryl threw a knife in his chest.
- Deaver gets a Boom, Headshot! from Gabriel before the Reaper could kill Maggie.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with the house still under attack by walkers during the storm, and with Leah opening fire on Maggie’s group.
- Continuity Nod:
- Daryl first saw the Whisperers’ herding tactics back in Season 9’s “Evolution”. To complete the reference, the Reapers express confusion at the horde’s milling around. Additionally, Wells meets his end much like Jesus did, as he is taken by surprise when the walkers - the disguised Maggie and Negan - slash at him after dodging his attacks.
- Virgil is familiar with Judith and is already respectful of her after they met back in Season 10’s “The World Before”. Once again, he is injured when speaking to her as well.
- Didn't See That Coming: Much like Jesus, Wells is utterly shocked when a walker he was about to kills ducks and weaves only to attack him with a knife.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Pope dies towards the end of the finale of the season’s first part, only for Leah to take his place.
- Dragon Ascendant: Leah kills Pope and tells the others that Daryl killed him, taking control of the Reapers.
- Dramatic Irony: Maggie has Wells killed in ironically the same way that Jesus was killed by a Whisperer.
- Dwindling Party: Five of the Reapers are killed during the episode, reducing their numbers to nine. If you want to be pedantic, they also lose Daryl whose true allegiance is outed.
- Handicapped Badass: Virgil is still recovering from the feral stabbing him, but he’s able to kill a Walker or two.
- Heel–Face Turn: Defied. Leah kills Pope and refuses to use the heavy weaponry on the horde with her people in range, but then tells the others Daryl killed Pope and outs him as a traitor, and continues the war against Maggie.
- Hypocrite:
- Pope gaslights Leah for criticizing his sending Wells out to the horde due to her calling him out for sacrificing her brother. Then he condescendingly says that Wells was his son as if it matters more than Leah’s attachment to him.
- Pope criticized politicians who indifferently sent his troops to their deaths during the war in Afghanistan, but he has pretty much no regard for doing the same to Wells or any other Reaper who died on his watch.
- I Lied: Daryl finally admits to Leah he lied about not being with Maggie’s group.
- Mood Whiplash: We go from a heartwarming conversation with Virgil and Judith about her and Michonne, then walkers breach the house.
- More Dakka: Ancheta has devised a massive artillery piece, a hwacha, capable of leveling a small horde of walkers with fireworks.
- Mundanger: A violent thunderstorm is the last thing Alexandria’s crumbling walls needed.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Leah admits to understanding why Daryl is taking such extremes to protect his family since she also is willing to do anything for hers. It bites Daryl in the ass since while she doesn’t kill him outright, she still declares him an enemy and is ready to continue battling Maggie.
- One-Man Army:
- Wells is willing to lead the horde away alone for a while, and to his credit slays many walkers on his own before he is attacked by the group.
- Rosita later singlehandedly wipes out a group of walkers attacking the house.
- Shoot the Dog: Pope says he killed his dog Tick for biting him.
- Sixth Ranger: Virgil has joined Alexandria.
- Spanner in the Works: Gracie puts a dent in the group’s plan to retreat to the second floor and pick off the walkers from there by running to the basement to look for a weapon. She and Judith end up trapped in the basement alone as walkers enter the house.
- Spotting the Thread: Pope is able to pick up on the fact that Daryl really wants him dead by comparing him to a dog he took in that refused to trust him.
- The Starscream: Leah implies she killed Pope so she could take his place and give the Reapers a proper leader again.
- Tempting Fate: Negan grins when the Reapers retreat from their fight, but Maggie immediately recognizes this is not a good thing.
- Trailers Always Spoil: AMC’s promo for Season 11, Part 2 showed footage from after this episode featuring Daryl, Gabriel, Maggie, Negan, and most of Alexandrians whose fates are left up in the air by the cliffhanger during daylight, showing they survive the events of the cliffhanger ending. What makes it worse is that the promo was released two days before the episode aired on AMC, spoiling those who had not subscribed to AMC+.
- Undying Loyalty: Leah’s faith in Pope finally breaks when he turns murderous against his own people out of his deluded desire to kill Maggie. However, she turns out to still be loyal to the Reapers as her family, and takes command of them so she can continue hunting Maggie.
- We Have Reserves: Pope is unbothered by the death of Wells, insisting he was a soldier who followed orders and that God chose his fate he also didn't mind having Ancheta fire his weapon where some Reapers where dealing with the horde of walkers.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Played With since from her perspective, the Reapers are the heroes: Leah is angry with Pope for sending Wells out alone despite knowing Maggie is out there. She’s also later hurt to realize Daryl lied to her about being not being with Maggie.
- Villain Respect: Pope expresses respect for Maggie using the walkers as a weapon against him.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Rosita runs outside to fight the small pack of walkers, and survives.
